Less than two weeks since the Blue Jays acquired SS Troy Tulowitzki and P David Price, they are "already seeing the benefits of success and being Canada’s team," according to Raju Mudhar of the TORONTO STAR. Blue Jays VP/Marketing & Merchandising Anthony Partipilo said, "Over the weekend, (the merchandise sales) it appears to be the highest numbers we’ve ever had for a weekend. We’re in new territory I guess is what it all boils down to. If you take a look at the numbers we are getting, from online sales in particular, about half the sales are coming from outside of Ontario. People are jumping online and purchasing jerseys, caps and all sorts of things from Alberta, B.C., from the East Coast, Maritimes, from all over the country. These are shifts that are significant that we are certainly paying attention to." He added that there "remains another level of casual fan that could only ratchet interest up even higher if the team continues to win and eventually make the post-season." Partipilo: "There’s another wave of fans that are just starting to pay attention, where they might not have been before. I think clearly it changes things, not necessarily on a day-to-day basis, but I think it changes things materially for the national brand." Mudhar noted the team's recent three-game weekend series with the Royals "averaged around a million viewers per game." Price’s first start with the team "set a non-season/home opener record with 1,390,000 viewers for Sportsnet." The rising viewership helped "raise the team’s average for the year up to 649,000." That yearly average "doesn’t include the last three Twins games this past week, with the series ending up averaging 1.24 million viewers over the sweep" (TORONTO STAR, 8/9).
